Hope that all are well & had a peaceful (or wild-n-crazy if that is more your flavour) New Years. We are well here and Momma rang the new year in at work while S., N. & I. stayed up to watch the ball drop in Times Square. The reviews were mixed....."I don't know what the big deal was-it was a ball, it dropped" and "There sure was a lot of kissing...Yuck!" So, I think next year they'll be going to bed at a more civilized hour again :)
Since my last post, J. has grown to a nearly one year old speed machine on all fours who has taken a few steps so far. T. has turned 3!!! I. is busy, learning letters and numbers and such not. If we can't convince Daddy that HS'ing would be a brilliant plan, he'll start K in the fall and something tells me I. may be my phone call home *every*single*day* child. N. is enjoying 1st grade and played fall ball. S. is surviving 3rd (for those in VA this is the year of the first round of "SOL-standards of learning exams" our gift from the NCLB act. We can't thank them enough...)
Daddy is still busy in the 'Burg. So far state budget cuts have been sparing to his dept., but raises have not and likely will not be forthcoming. Which stinks, but beats the hay out of unemployment, which so many are facing. I am still at Chip at nights and working as a FNP on the weekends at a retail health clinic.
The garden was good for tomatoes and peppers this year. The plan is for this coming year is to rework the plan ^_^. Santa brought me many new gardening books, among them the All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew & Year Round Harvest By Eliot Coleman-who is a Mainer. If he can garden year 'round, I am sure I could pull it off here. Although currently it feels like Maine outside. Daddy has given me license to totally rework the bed layout. This should be fun. I heard Joel Salatin speak this summer at the HEAV convention in Richmond about turning your home & yard into a profit centre. Glorious predictions of making $40K off a 1 acre yard. Don't think I could pull that off, but half would mean I would only need to work one away from home job and sure wouldn't break my heart. We'll see. We're accepting suggestions for pseudo-farm names.....Suburbia Acre is leading the pack so far.
The big news of recent note here is that we finally broke down and got the BIG VAN. A lovely, very large while Ford F-350 econoline 15 passenger van. It is cool in that it has a centre aisle rather than 4 rows of benches. It's official-we've become "those people".
Well that is all the news for now and the tribe requires lunch, so I GTG as all the cool text-talkers would say. I pray that you have a safe and blessed 2010.
